this one mentions animals

 

Hmm, sounds like I need to read my owners manual and see if I have auto-adjustment?

 

Just push the light stalk like you will have your lights on bright. Make sure light switch is on A. You should see a headlight looking thing with an A in the center on the dashboard. The lights should auto adjust. Mine also turn side to side with turning - this is in addition to the light that turns on at slow speed when signaling. Im going to crash someday while mesmerized by my lights.

 

All night vision does is detect heat sources on the roadway ahead and then detects pedestrians based upon the calculations.

Deer and other targets are generally off the roadway and jump out right in front of you. Night vision does nothing for that. It only really works to detect pedestrians walking along the roadway. Pretty useless.

 

ttoE550 thanks, I am gonna try this tomorrow after reviewing my manual .

 

You are quite correct from a general point of view. I have, however, had night vision help me to detect deer in exactly the situation you describe. First, I think the night vision is horribly placed, so one should not be looking at it while driving. One night I had it on while on Falls Road in Potomac with woods on the right (near the firehouse, I think). Woods do not emit much heat, so they were dark. While driving, i caught fast motion in my peripheral vision of white moving against dark on the night vision screen. I then looked directly at the night vision and saw it was deer running through the woods toward the road. I had not seen them at all through the windshield before that. I was able to come to a comfortable stop to avoid them. If I had done nothing, I would have likely hit one. I might have seen them otherwise, but I saw them sooner with night vision.

I think the camera and its field of vision are fantastic. I think it could be great with deer just as is because the deer are not often surrounded by hot objects. It is just located in a crappy place, and takes over valuable real estate. If it were HUD or something, I would not hesitate to recommend it. As it is, I say don't waste your money.

 

Just a random thought: the pedestrian detection might be a bit different in that a pedestrian walking in the road is probably walking in a hot environment, and so is harder to distinguish at a glance than a deer running in the cold woods. The road is hotter because the road emits heat absorbed during the daytime, there are road lights, and passing traffic. In Potomac, where I live, someone walking in the road at night would be on a suicide mission.

 

CEB,

You obviously do not like Night Vision and you have right to your opinion just like others do but you are stating something that is not a fact.

In a real fact Night Vision sees deer and other animal better than pedestrians. Reason is that they do not wear clothes. The surface temperature of a deer or moose outside is far higher than the temperature of an over coat that a person wears. Of course, in summer time people are more visible for the system as they can be walking in shorts and T-shirts but still exposed area is far smaller than on a "naked" deer.

If NV was positioned in the middle of the cluster as on the S-class I would even recommend it but if it indeed is positioned in the Comand screen on the E-class it is quite useless for the driver.

 

I just noticed that a store here in Norway sells OEM night vision retrofit kits for W212. They cost $5,150 inc. VAT/tax and I'm sure they are even cheaper in the US.

Edit: This obviously requires that you already have a Comand NTG 4 unit.

http://www.autoroyal.no/shop/product...1043&menunode=

 

I have nothing in principle against NV but I realistically understand the movements of deer and other wildlife. Deer don't hang out drinking beer in the middle of the road where NV could detect them, but they tend to dart out from the side of the road.

If NV displayed in a HUD then it might give you a fighting chance of dodging deer but in the current location it is a total waste of money.

ttoE550 said that he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and verified it with NV after looking down on the screen - a very bad idea as he had to take his eyes off the road. I drive that same stretch of road daily and it is not unusual to see several groups of deer in a 1 mile distance.

 

I don't recall from your earlier postings questioning the screen location. Just plain saying it is useless and can't see deer and other animal.

About the deer on road I can say that it is abouts 50/50 when I have seen deer just very close to the road or on the road / running across the road. I would say I have seen slightly more of them just standing next to the road.

Deer is not that bad as it is small and its eyer shine bright when car lights hit them.

Have you ever driven just few feet from a standing BIG moose in pitch dark rain at highway speed? It is a very unpleasant feeling when you see its blood red eyes just when you come next to it. I wish I had something like NV when this happened to me three times so far.

Some of these animals come to highways just to get away from bugs in the forest. In some areas in winter they come to eat salt if salt ius used on the roads. All of them don't just gallop across the road.

 

PCP, I have not found a kit for retrofitting this in the US. Don't know if it would be cheaper.

 

Hi,




Any updates on Night Vision retro-fit kits? Anyone ever done it? I have a 2012 S350, and if it is cost effective I would love to have the upgrade...


Jeff

 

OP, that girl you have been stalking called, she said she isn't interested, please take this as her final answer

JK pal...good luck with the hunt!

 

the current NV is waaay better than the one I had in 2011